The Maplewood Panthers are taking a road trip to challenge the Sycamore War Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Sycamore took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on Maplewood, who comes in off a win.
Maplewood took a loss when they played away from home back in September, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed last Friday. They took their game at home with ease, bagging a 54-0 win over Glencliff. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Panthers just coasted through the last quarter.
Jayon Washington went supernova for Maplewood, rushing for 64 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries, while also throwing for 99 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes. The dominant performance gave Washington a new career-high in rushing yards. Christian Beatie was in the mix too, providing Maplewood with two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Maplewood was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 242 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Maplewood's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Antonio Batey. Maplewood got some further help from Jaylan Strong: he picked up 0.5 sacks, forced a fumble, and made nine total tackles (2.5 for loss).
Meanwhile, Sycamore was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They were dealt a 48-20 defeat at the hands of White House-Heritage.
Maplewood's victory bumped their record up to 2-3. As for Sycamore, their loss dropped their record down to 2-4.
Things could have been worse for Maplewood, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 47-28 loss to Sycamore in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sycamore's Hicks Hunter, who rushed for 283 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 9.8 yards per carry. Now that Maplewood knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
